And after just a few days of operation, SLIM has entered hibernation mode. This is due to the lunar sunset leaving SLIM in nighttime darkness.
JAXA isn't sure whether SLIM will survive the extreme cold of a lunar night. But they say that they will try to wake up SLIM after lunar sunrise in a couple of weeks.
(Feb 1, 2024 11:17 PM)Yazata Wrote: And after just a few days of operation, SLIM has entered hibernation mode. This is due to the lunar sunset leaving SLIM in nighttime darkness.
JAXA isn't sure whether SLIM will survive the extreme cold of a lunar night. But they say that they will try to wake up SLIM after lunar sunrise in a couple of weeks.
Was that lunar nighttime period always going to present an uncertainty for the power ,regardless of the problems they have had with the alignment of the solar panels?
C CFeb 2, 2024 10:49 AM (This post was last modified: Feb 2, 2024 10:50 AM by C C.)
(Feb 2, 2024 12:26 AM)geordief Wrote:
(Feb 1, 2024 11:17 PM)Yazata Wrote: And after just a few days of operation, SLIM has entered hibernation mode. This is due to the lunar sunset leaving SLIM in nighttime darkness.
JAXA isn't sure whether SLIM will survive the extreme cold of a lunar night. But they say that they will try to wake up SLIM after lunar sunrise in a couple of weeks.
Was that lunar nighttime period always going to present an uncertainty for the power, regardless of the problems they have had with the alignment of the solar panels?
That seems to be the case (if it had landed properly). An original mission account of it back in September, after the launch, states that SLIM's activities were planned to close at the start of that interval: "A stretch goal for SLIM is to conduct operations until lunar sunset. Lunar daylight at a given location lasts around 14 Earth days, and once the sun sets, the lunar surface can reach a temperature of minus 130 degrees Celsius."
YazataFeb 26, 2024 07:00 AM (This post was last modified: Feb 26, 2024 07:44 AM by Yazata.)
Speaking of lunar landers resting on their sides...
JAXA says:
"Last night, a command was sent to #SLIM and a response received, confirming that the spacecraft has made it through the lunar night and maintained communication capabilities!"
"Communication with #SLIM was terminated after a short time, as it was still lunar midday and the temperature of the communication equipment was very high. Preparations are being made to resume operations when instrument temperatures have sufficiently cooled."
"Moon nights were cold, but moon days were extremely hot. When we communicated with Earth last night, the temperature of some of our equipment was already over 100 ℃ . I didn't expect temperatures to be this high, but it's amazing that space electronics still work!"
YazataMar 28, 2024 06:57 AM (This post was last modified: Mar 28, 2024 09:04 PM by Yazata.)
Another lunar night has concluded and Japanese engineers at JAXA were frankly surprised that SLIM is still alive and responsive. Like last time, it's getting too hot in the direct sunlight, which it needs to power its solar cell. But it managed to send back some photos:
Jaxa photo
I guess since the Moon is merely a moon and not a planet, they decided to complete it in black-and-white instead of color. Looking at photos taken on the Moon is like watching an old 1950's TV show.
YazataApr 24, 2024 04:54 PM (This post was last modified: Apr 24, 2024 04:57 PM by Yazata.)
JAXA has just announced that SLIM has survived yet another lunar night, has reawakened on command and is downloading data.
This little upside-down lander has proven to be a determined survivor.
JAXA says:
"Last night (the night of April 23rd), we were able to successfully communicate with #SLIM which had started up again, and confirmed that SLIM had survived for the third time. Here is a photo of the surface of the moon taken last night with the navigation camera. As this photo was taken at the earliest age of the moon so far after the overnight awakening, the moon is bright overall and the shadows are very short."
"#SLIM The project attempted to send a command to restore power on Friday, May 24th and Saturday, May 25th, when power was expected to be restored, but was unable to confirm any radio signals from SLIM. The project plans to try again on the night of Monday, May 27th. #JAXA"
We tried again on the night of the 27th, but there was no response from #SLIM . As the sun went down around SLIM on the night of the 27th, it became impossible to generate electricity, so unfortunately this month's operation will end. Thank you very much for the many supports you have given us since the previous day's post.
#JAXA
We plan to try operating it again next month when we expect to be able to generate sufficient power from the solar panels. Since the power was turned off overnight, we hope that the whole system will be reset and restarted. #SLIM #JAXA